Daley settling in after month as DPW director

'I'm really enjoying it so far'

SOUTHBRIDGE — After taking the reigns as director of the Department of Public Works, Thomas Daley is slowly getting acclimated to the job and his surroundings.

Daley took over at the beginning of February from Kenneth Kalinowski.

"I'm really enjoying it so far, especially the people I work with and have met," said Daley. "I'm not surprised by this, but I am really happy with how things have gone so far. I've worked in towns about this size before, so that isn't much of a change."

Daley, a 1986 graduate of the University of Lowell, has a long track record of similar jobs he has held. His most recent job was the commissioner of Public Works for the city of Newton. Many years before that and many jobs over, he was the city engineer for Newton. For six years, he was the director of Public Works and town engineer for the town of Duxbury. Overall, he estimates he has been in the public sector for 20 years.

"I'm really now just trying to soak it all in and trying to figure out what is going on and what is planned," he said. "For example, the water treatment plant. We're working on getting that closed up at this point. We're trying to get that wrapped up in the next few months. Commercial Drive, the access road, we're trying to get that wrapped up and closed out. We're trying things on the sewer pump station. I was working with my staff on how to get the budget in."

For more on this story, please see tomorrow's Southbridge Evening News.